32 The EastAfrican OUTLOOK DECEMBER 6-12,2014 S CI E N C E Diet, exercise key to healthy mind at 70 Cont≥ol of blood suga≥ at the age of 50 is assu≥ance fo≥ a sha≥p mind in old age By CHRISTABEL LIGAMI Special Correspondent 70, a new study suggests. Researchers from Johns Hopkins C Bloomberg School of Public Health in the US suggest that people diagnosed with diabetes in midlife are more likely to experience significant memory and cognitive problems during the next 20 years than those with healthy blood sugar levels The researchers found that diabe- tes appears to age the mind roughly five years faster beyond the normal effects of ageing. For example, on average, a 60-year-old with diabetes experiences cognitive decline on par with a healthy 65-year-old ageing normally. Decline in memory, word recall and executive function is strongly associated with progression to dementia, a loss of mental capacity severe enough to interfere with a person’s daily functioning. The study published in the jour- nal Annals of Internal Medicine is believed to be the longest of its kind following a cross-section of adults as they age. “The lesson is that to have a healthy brain when you’re 70, you need to eat right and exercise when you’re 50,” said study leader Elizabeth Selvin, an associate professor of epidemiology at the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health. “There is a substantial cognitive decline associated with diabetes, pre-diabetes and poor glucose control in people with diabetes. And we know how to prevent or delay the diabetes associated with this decline.” The researchers used already existing data for a group of over ontrol of blood sugar at the age of 50 is key to a healthy mind at Young women working out under a gym instructor. Picture: File BRIEFS Ebola death toll in West Africa now at 6,928 The number of people killed by the Ebola outbreak in West Africa has risen to 6,928, the WHO says. The toll has increased by over 1,000 since the WHO report a week ago, but it includes unreported deaths from earlier in the outbreak. Experts say the infection rate is more significant than the death toll, as it reflects how the virus is spreading. Infection rates are decreasing in Liberia, but are high in Sierra Leone. There have been over 16,000 reported cases in Guinea, Sierra Leone and Liberia. Study unveils drug that could tame cancers DIABETES Research has shown that the single best predictor of type 2 diabetes is being obese or overweight In the US alone, more than one-third of adults (more than 72 million people) are obese, defined as having a body mass index of 30 or more. The diabetes epidemic has grown rapidly over the past several decades, affecting approximately 10 per cent of American adults. 15,000 middle-aged adults. Participants were seen at four vis- its approximately three years apart between 1987 and 1989, and were seen a fifth time between 2011 and 2013. Cognitive function was evaluated at visits two (1990-1992), four (1996-1998) and five. The researchers compared the amount of cognitive decline associated with ageing with the amount of decline found in the previous study. They found that there was 19 per cent more decline than expected in those participants with poorly controlled diabetes, as well as smaller declines for those with controlled diabetes and pre-diabetes. The outcomes were the same whether the participants were white or black. Dr Selvin said the results under- score the importance of using a combination of weight control, exercise and a healthy diet to prevent diabetes. Even losing just five to 10 per cent of body weight, she said, can keep someone from developing diabetes. Diabetes is a function of elevated sugar (glucose) levels in the blood. This excess glucose can damage tissues and the vascular system throughout the body and diabetes is associated with blindness, nerve damage in the extremities and kidney disease. While diabetes can often be controlled through medication, exercise and changes to diet, disease prevention is the preferred goal. “If we can do a better job at pre- venting and controlling diabetes, we can prevent the progression to dementia for many people,” Dr Selvin said. “Even delaying dementia by a few years could have a huge impact on the population, from quality of life to health care costs.” Researchers are increasingly aware of the importance of many other causes of dementia besides Alzheimer’s disease, particularly cognitive impairment linked to abnormalities in blood vessels in the brain. “There are many ways we can reduce the impact of cerebral blood vessel disease by prevention or control of diabetes and hypertension, reduction in smoking, increase in exercise and improvements in diet,” said co-author of the study Richey Sharrett, an adjunct professor at the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health “Knowing that the risk for cog- nitive impairments begins with diabetes and other risk factors in mid-life can be a strong motivator for patients and their doctors to adopt and maintain long-term healthy practices,” he added. MSF ≥aises new conce≥ns ove≥ ≥esponse to Ebola c≥isis By RICK GLADSTONE New York Times News Service MÉDECINS SANS FRONTIÈRES (doctors without borders), the medical charity that was among the first to react early and aggressively to the Ebola crisis in West Africa, expressed new concern last Tuesday about what it called a slow and uneven international response that portends further setbacks. The tone of the warning, by Dr Joanne Liu, the group’s international president, was pessimistic compared with an appraisal made on Monday by the WHO, which said significant progress had been made in reversing the upward trajectory of the disease. Dr Liu acknowledged an outpouring of finan- cial and construction help from abroad in the past few months. The US has led the outpouring, and President Barack Obama exhorted Congress last Tuesday to approve a $6.18 billion funding request. But Dr Liu said most of the work of track- ing, isolating and treating patients, burying the dead and raising awareness to minimise contagion had fallen to the three poor countries at the heart of the outbreak: Guinea, Liberia and Sierra Leone. Local doctors, nurses and charity workers, some lacking expertise, are still carrying an inordinate burden, she said. While MSF and other groups have offered training, she said, it can take weeks. “We can’t let our guard down and allow this to become a double failure, a response that was slow to begin with and is ill-adapted in the end,” Dr Liu said in a statement on the organisation’s website. “It is extremely disappointing that states with biological-disaster response capacities have chosen not to utilise them,” she said. “How is it that the international community has left the response to Ebola — now a transnational threat — to doctors, nurses and charity workers?” Some infected rural areas of Liberia, she said, have no means to transport laboratory samples. In Sierra Leone, callers to a national hotline are told to isolate suspected patients at home. Discounted by some critics as alarmist early in the crisis, MSF has vindicated itself as its warnings have proved accurate. Perhaps the most notable convert was Sierra Leone’s President Alpha Condé, who once publicly chastised MSF for scaring people but now is one of the most ardent advocates of an aggressive response to the outbreak. Dr Liu’s new warning came as the World Bank issued a bleak economic prognosis for the Ebola outbreak zone in 2015, and the WHO said the number of infections had surpassed 17,000, with 7,000 deaths. Lab technician carries out a test to detect TB. Pic: File DNA of protein in cardiac muscle disease found The structure of a key protein implicated in diseases affecting the heart muscle has been uncovered, scientists say. Researchers, including some from King’s College London, say they now understand why faulty alpha-actinin stops muscles from working properly when people have the heart disease cardiomyopathy. Their conclusions could lead to better screening and potential treatment for other conditions caused by the defect. A drug that makes a wide range of cancers more vulnerable to the body’s immune system is “exciting” and may mark a new era, say doctors where it strips cancer cells of the “camouflage” they use to evade attack by the immune system. A study, published in Nature said some patients completely recovered from terminal bladder cancer. The drug has been given “breakthrough therapy” status in the US and could be used widely by patients there at the end of 2015, if a larger trial shows the same results. WHO report paints grim picture of TB in Kenya A new report by WHO said Kenya needs Ksh5 billion ($54m) for TB programmes this financial year but only Ksh3 billion ($32m) has been realised from donors and the government. The report further indicates that in Kenya, the number of TB patients with known HIV status stood at 840,000 by 2013. It adds that in the same period, the number of HIV positive TB patients stood at 31,650 while those on ARVs were 26,431